


When The Lights Go Down at 3am

by Yiffandquiff (paradisobound)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: College!AU, First Meeting, Humor, M/M, horror like elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:22:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23476153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paradisobound/pseuds/Yiffandquiff
Summary: Dan is used to procrastinating on everything in his life, whether that be doing assignments or getting books from the library. However, one night when he ventures to get his books, a storm hits and knocks the power out in the library, causing him to be alone with a very cute fellow student named Phil
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36
Collections: Phandom Writers Discord 2020 Spring Fic Exchange





	When The Lights Go Down at 3am

**Author's Note:**

  * For [itsmyusualphannie (itsmyusualweeb)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsmyusualweeb/gifts).



> Hope you like your fic, Tara! I didn’t go the crack element way like you suggested but I hope you like it anyway!

Dan knew that he had a bad habit of waiting until the last minute to do anything, but he still curses himself for waiting until the last minute to turn in his library books constantly. He’s grateful for the fact that his university has an online system, but unfortunately, that only works for one renewal and then he has to make his way to the library or be charged an ‘outstanding balance’ for overdue books. And frankly, Dan was too broke for that. So here he is, at 1:30am when the library closes at 2, rushing across campus to return his books 

He makes it to the library at 1:42, his chest heaving and sweat curling the ends of his hair a bit. He had sprinted the entire way, terrified of not making it in time for closing but  _ of course  _ he was going to make it in time. It wasn’t like his campus was massive. It was actually quite small. So he shouldn’t have run...but his anxiety was telling him he had to run. 

Dan pushes open the door and walks inside, immediately in heaven as the cool touch of the air-conditioner brushes against his skin. It’s instantly a relief to calm his sweating skin. He makes his way past the security buzzers by scanning his student ID and then he walks over to the counter. 

There is a new person working at the counter tonight. One that Dan hasn’t seen working at the library before and that scares him a bit. He’s used to Jessica working the graveyard student shift at the library so seeing a new kid here is like a whole different world. This person isn’t going to know about his serial near-deadline offending and what if they get him in trouble? Jessica used to just take his books and not say anything and so he knew to trust that this would happen every time he procrastinated. 

Dan slowly makes his way up to the counter and stands just beyond the edge of it. The kid has his airpods in, not paying any attention that someone is standing there. His black hair is falling down into his eyes and his glasses are falling a bit further down his nose. Said nose is currently buried in a book and when Dan looks over the counter in curiosity, he can see that it’s some type of science book and the first headline is  _ your brain cells and you _ . 

_ Ironic,  _ Dan says as he laughs to himself,  _ I don’t even have any brain cells.  _

“Can I help you?” 

Dan snaps out of his thoughts to see the new worker looking up at him, pulling his airpods out of his ears and putting them into their case next to his book. 

“I have some books to return,” Dan says, pulling his backpack off from his shoulders to down in front of his feet. He bends over and pulls out the three law textbooks he had to check out for his paper and then sets them on the counter. 

“Okay, just these three?” The student worker asks and Dan nods, shoving the books closer to the males grasp. 

Dan watched as the boy took his books and scanned them with the handheld scanner before typing a few things into the computer and setting them on the empty cart next to his chair. 

“Is that all you needed to do tonight?” The male asks Dan and Dan nods with a blushing smile. 

The male says _ to have a goodnight  _ and Dan wishes him one back as he walks back out the doors of the library chewing the nail of his thumb with his teeth. 

The boy worker there was really attractive and it was making Dan feel a bit anxious. He’s struggled to come to terms with his sexuality so seeing a boy that he thinks is cute makes him really nervous. 

He hikes his backpack up on his shoulder a bit more and grasps the straps in his hands as he starts the trek back to his housing where he’ll be up as the sun comes up and then he’ll sleep until his 2:30 class. 

***

Dan repeats this cycle again just three weeks later when he has another paper he needs to get books for. This time, it’s for his media class and he needs to get books on journalism and ethics. He finds the books on the library’s web page and then makes his way around the stacks to find them. 

Naturally, like Dan’s other trips to the library, it’s after midnight. Tonight, it’s storming outside and the rain comes right after Dan leaves his housing to make his way to the library. Normally, he would have just turned around and gone back, getting back to his room and staying out of the cold. 

But the paper is due tomorrow night and he really needs these books...like  _ badly.  _ And he procrastinated way too much on the paper already to wait until the morning to get the books. He needs to get them tonight and then work on the paper all night while he downs Red Bull and coffee. 

So he rushes to the library, soaking wet by the time he gets there, and gets inside just as lightning colors the sky and thunder vibrates the floor. He shouldn’t have gone outside and came here. He just should have turned around and went back and admitted defeat. 

Dan walks further inside and notices he’s the only one around besides the same dark haired male working behind the counter. He’s sitting in the chair with his laptop open and he’s typing something away on the keys. 

Dan bypasses the counter to the stacks where he knows the books are in the back of the library. He can see the lightning outside of the window and every time it cracked, his heart picked up speed. He grabbed his four books he needed and then rushed to the counter, eager to get his stuff and get back before the storm could get any worse. 

He sets the books onto the counter and the boy looks up from his laptop, “Just these?” Dan nods and the boy grabs them, “Can I see your student ID?” 

Dan reaches into his bag and pulls out his wallet. Just as he’s opening the billfold, the lights flicker in the library and then everything around them goes dark. 

Dan’s heart picks up speed, and he feels like he may pass out. 

There is one thing Dan hates more than  _ literally  _ anything else in the entire world and that is the dark. He can’t stand the dark because he can’t  _ trust  _ what is in the dark. 

“Oh  _ shit, _ ” the boy swears, putting the books back onto the counter and then pulling out his phone, turning on the flashlight, “Security came in earlier and said we might lose power but I was hoping we wouldn’t. I have my thesis to work on and it’s all on Google Docs and I need the internet to work it.” 

_ Thesis? How old was this boy?  _

“I have to get these books out for a paper that’s due tomorrow,” Dan admits with a blush. 

The boy lets out a chuckle, “Waited until the last minute, did you?” 

Thunder cracks in the distance and Dan jumps. 

“Shouldn’t there be a backup generator kicking in soon?” Dan asks, feeling anxious and uneasy with this entire situation. 

The boy shrugs his shoulder and sighs, “No idea.” 

They stand in silence for a few minutes, but the silence makes it worse. Everything feels uneasy. Dan doesn’t even know what to do, it’s like he doesn’t even have the ability to move because he’s scared of what’ll come out in the dark and grab him. 

“You’re shaking, are you okay?” 

Dan turns around and looks at the boy who has his phone face down on the counter with the light shining up. 

“Just don’t like the dark,” Dan says, trying to act nonchalant. 

“How old are you?” 

Dan feels like he’s being interrogated now and he’s not sure if he likes that. 

“I’m 19,” he answers honestly. He’ll be 20 in June. 

“Oh you’re a second year then?” The boy asks and Dan nods. 

“I’m a third year and I’m finishing my thesis right now. My name is Phil by the way.” 

Dan nods in Phil’s direction and flashes a smile. 

The lights flicker above on the ceiling but they still don’t come on and Dan lets out a sigh. He turns his to look out the window and he can see the rain literally coming down in sheets, hitting the glass hard. It wouldn’t even be smart for him to make his way outside for any reasoning. He has to just stay here. 

“The rain is getting worse,” Phil comments, nodding his head in the direction Dan was just looking. “I wonder if the rest of campus lost power too?” 

Just as Phil says that, a figure walks by the window and shines a bright flashlight into the library. Dan jumps and Phil jumps with him. Dan panics, gathering himself and rushing out of the line of the light shining in. 

“What is that?” Dan asks, his voice shaking. 

“I’m not sure,” Phil says, “Maybe it’s security seeing if anyone is inside?” 

“But why are they shining a light inside?”

“Dan...we’re on a university campus. How many horror movies have you seen?” Phil’s voice is clipped and short, very calm considering the circumstances. “Wait...you’re about to piss yourself aren’t you?” 

“Oh piss off!” 

“No judgement mate, but you seem really scared,” Phil says and Dan really wants to say  _ no shit Captain Obvious.  _

“I don’t know what to think being honest,” Dan whispers, although his voice comes out more high pitched than he wanted it to. 

Just as Dan feels like maybe Phil  _ is  _ right and he  _ is  _ going to actually piss himself, the landline phone behind the desk starts ringing and Dan jumps into the air, clutching his chest. 

Phil looks down at the ringing phone and Dan tries to make out his sudden change in facial expression, “That’s new?” 

Phil picks the receiver up and Dan studies his face more as Phil speaks and a voice on the other line can barely be heard besides a few buzzes and hisses. When Phil says goodbye, he hangs up the receiver and turns to Dan. 

“That was campus security. They told us that they don’t want anyone to leave the library until the storm is over. The power outage is from a power line down down the street but they’re estimating for it to be a few hours before it’s properly fixed.” 

Dan groans to himself. This is the worst scenario he could be caught in right now with his massive paper due tomorrow and the deadline now edging ever closer. He needs to start work on this paper but he won’t be able to even see the pages in this darkness. 

“You see antsy to get back to your housing,” Phil comments, pointing out at Dan’s shaking leg, which he didn’t even notice he was doing. 

“I already told you. I have an important paper due tomorrow at 11.” 

“Am or pm?” 

“Am.” 

“Why did you wait so long to write it if it was important?” Phil comments with a slight scoff. 

If Dan wasn’t already having a near breakdown, he still wouldn’t have appreciated the snarky comment. He understands that his procrastination is a problem but yet he still cannot help that he does it. It’s just his nature at this point. 

Although maybe this was the exact wake up call that he actually needed. 

“Do you write papers with Google Docs?” Phil asks. 

“Normally I do, yeah.” 

“Do you have Word on your laptop?” 

Dan didn’t even  _ bring  _ his laptop with him so that’s not gonna help him anyway. 

“I left my laptop at my housing because I was under the impression that I was going to grab these books and go right back.” 

“Oof.” 

They stand in silence as a few more flashes of lightning illuminated the room and thunder cracks in the distance. The rain doesn’t look as heavy any more. That’s a good thing Dan supposes. 

Just a few seconds later, the landline rings again and Phil picks it up, answering it like he had before. Dan stands back and watches, waiting to find out any information that he can so he can get back to writing his paper. 

Phil hung up not long after and stood up from where he was sitting behind the desk, “So that was security again. They’re saying that the thunderstorm is getting a lot worse than they intended so they want us to take shelter away from windows. The only place I know here that doesn’t have any windows are the study rooms.” 

Dan bit his lip, “Well, if we have to.” 

“Security is going to call when it’s safe for us to leave. Until then we should probably heed their warnings.” 

Dan nods and Phil walks out from behind the counter and Dan follows him down the hallway to the area of study rooms in the back of the library. Dan didn’t like how much darker it looked back here, his fears heightened and his hands became cold and clammy. 

Phil unlocked one of the rooms with the key on a lanyard and pushed the door open to reveal a completely black room with a table and set of four chairs. Phil pulls out one of the chairs and sits down, putting his phone face down on the table to try and use his flashlight to illuminate the room. 

Dan pulls out the chair next to him and sits down with shaking limbs. He didn’t like this. He wanted to be back to his room where even if he was scared, he could be in the comfort of his bed and not in a library all alone with a guy he just met. 

“You’re shaking.” 

Dan set down his backpack onto the floor and let our a sigh, “thanks for pointing it out.” 

Phil’s expression turned serious, “you’re not taking the piss. You’re genuinely scared.” 

“I thought it was obvious earlier,” Dan breathed out. “I wouldn’t joke about something like this. It genuinely freaks me out.” 

“Well maybe the storm will be done soon and this can all end.” 

Dan taps his finger tips against the wooden table and takes solace in the tapping noise it makes that echos in the room. Phil stares at his fingers and Dan finds himself self-conscious and stops. 

The door to the library suddenly was heard banging shut and Dan’s breath stopped in his throat. Phil’s head immediately turned to look out the door and Dan saw his own face pale lighter than it actually was. 

“Who is that?” Dan whispered. 

“Maybe it’s security?” 

Footsteps could now be heard echoing down the floor into the library and Dan felt tears well in his eyes at the sheer fear he felt in his bones at who this could be. 

Phil stood up and shut the door to the room. With no windows, and no indication that anyone was in there, Dan felt a bit of a relief but that still didn’t stop a stray tear from falling down his cheek. 

“Oh, hey, don’t cry,” Phil let out, “it’s okay.” 

Dan shook his head and pulled his legs up to his chest, feeling like a small child now. He was 18  _ fucking  _ years old and here he is crying in his college library over probably nothing. 

He felt ridiculous. 

Suddenly a pair of arms were wrapping around him and Dan stiffened for a second. He looked up and was met with black hair and he softened a bit into the warmth that was Phil’s embrace. 

“You’re okay,” Phil breathed out. “It’s okay. It’s probably just security trying to find us.” 

Dan nodded against Phil’s shirt and Phil pulled back. Phil’s hands remained on Dan’s shoulders and Dan looked up at Phil, their eyes meeting for a second. 

Dan get a tinge of heat flood through his body as he noticed just how pretty Phil’s eyes were, even in the barely there light. Phil himself was actually really attractive, and now Dan is blushing over the thought of seeing another guy as cute. 

Phil rubs his shoulders a few times for comfort and then pulls back and sits back down in his chair. Dan wants to thank him, tell him he really appreciates the comfort. But the words don’t come out of his mouth so he sits in silence. 

A knock appears on the door, followed by a gruff voice saying  _ campus security! Are you two in there?  _

Phil stands up and opens the door to two security guards standing just on the other side, “We’re here to take you guys back to your residences. Gather your belongings and we’ll meet you at the front door.” 

Dan and Phil both nod and Dan stands up and grabs his stuff and follows Phil and the security guards to the front of the library. He waits for Phil to gather his stuff and then they both leave the building behind security. 

They get into the back of securities car and Dan is happy that the rain appears to have let up and the thunder is no longer happening. 

“Where do you two live?” The one security guard asked. 

Dan said his dorm of Alley Court and Phil said his as the townhouses. They get to Dan’s dorm first and as he’s about to get out, Phil slips something into his hand and Dan’s confused, but he hands onto it and thanks the security guards before slipping out and rushing to his front door. 

When Dan gets through the door, he looks down at the note in his hand and sees that it’s a phone number. He immediately squeals to himself that he just got Phil’s number. He gets into the elevator and begins to type the number in so he can send Phil his own. 

_ Hey Phil. It’s me Dan. _

Dan waited and before no time, he got a text back. 

_ Hey! So wanna hang out sometime that’s not during the middle of a storm?  _

And that was how Dan got his first and only boyfriend at college. 


End file.
